Is Handshake a good company to work for?

Handshake has an overall rating of 3.1 out of 5, based on over 459 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has increased by 10% over the last 12 months. 43% of employees would recommend working at Handshake to a friend and 37% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Handshake have been left by employees working as Remote AI Trainer , Senior Software Engineer and AI Fellow .

Does Handshake pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Handshake employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.2 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Handshake. This rating has decreased by 3% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Handshake?

43% of Handshake employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Handshake 3.1 out of 5 for work life balance, 2.6 for culture and values and 2.8 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Handshake?

Software Engineer (37) , Remote AI Trainer (19) , AI Trainer (14) , AI Fellow (12) , Fellow (12) , Account Executive (11) , Senior Software Engineer (11) , Customer Success Manager (9) , Sales Development Representative (SDR) (9) , Sales (6) , AI Data Annotator (5) , Enterprise Account Executive (5) , MOVE Fellowship (AI Annotator) (5) , Consumer Support Specialist (4) , Customer Support Specialist (4)

What are the pros of working at Handshake according to real employee reviews?

"I've had the opportunity to work with some really great people over the years." ((in 37 reviews)); "Good pay and on time" ((in 35 reviews)); "Benefits are good" ((in 18 reviews)); "great coworkers, there are no real dead weights or under performers here in my experience" ((in 11 reviews)); "Work life balance is also decent." ((in 11 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Handshake according to real employee reviews?

"Management is horrible." ((in 17 reviews)); "suite and Senior Leadership are terrible (except for Christine and Marta)." ((in 17 reviews)); "Disorganized, poor communication, unclear direction." ((in 11 reviews)); "The CEO is a bully who dominates meetings; he.enjoys embarrassing his employees rather than empowering them." ((in 7 reviews)); "managing, favoritism, abrupt account suspension" ((in 7 reviews))

What are employees saying about Handshake layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Handshake layoffs and their outlook for job security at Handshake in 2026.

What Handshake locations have received the highest employee ratings?

Denver , Los Angeles , San Francisco , New York

Handshake reviews

3.1

43% would recommend to a friend

(289 total reviews)

Garrett Lord

44% approve of CEO

37% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.2

Diversity & inclusion

3.2

Compensation and benefits

3.1

Work/Life balance

2.8

Career opportunities

2.6

Culture & values

2.3

Senior management

Handshake has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 289 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Handshake employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

289 reviews

2.0

Oct 19, 2023

Great mission and product—poor leadership, planning and trust across the board.

Marketing

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

There are some really great talent at the company along with a strong mission and fantastic product and ecosystem.

Cons

Leadership doesn't really know what they're doing in terms of growth, revenue and how to plan for the future. The constant changes in narratives, goals and scaling makes it really hard to work in this environment. There's also a strong lack of trust across teams and things are always very political when it comes to division of work and ownership. Roadmap planning for most teams are also nonexistent—they expect you to execute and plan within the same quarter with close to little to no resources and support from cross-functional teams.

Handshake Response

2y

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We recognize that there has been a lot of change at Handshake over the last year, and we know that it can be hard to work amidst so much change. We are aiming to have more stability in 2024 to enable our teams to focus on their work and their goals, which we also hope will allow for better roadmapping across our teams.

1.0

Feb 1, 2023

Not worth it

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

-Fully remote, no current plan to RTO -Compensation is decent

Cons

Handshake has become fond of saying it has a performance culture. In reality, the culture feels like it is based purely on fear. ICs are churned through more rapidly than I've ever seen, either being fired or many quitting because of a toxic culture of pressure and overwork. Managers spend more time in daily interviews to backfill the multiple people they fired than they do supporting their team. Executives say they encourage using your unlimited PTO. Meanwhile, taking PTO is commented on negatively by some managers.

1.0

Jan 26, 2023

Deceitful and Arrogant

Manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Open PTO, remote work, week off between Xmas and New Year’s Day, and week off for 4th of July

Cons

Handshake is desperately attempting to hide mass layoffs so they don’t have to report it. They are providing handsome severance packages and citing no performance issues or constructive feedback. It’s not performance terminations it’s an unreported legal RIF because they are struggling and will likely not make it. They were overvalued and are so ego driven they hired frivolously and now real people are completely caught off guard and being let go.

Viewing 46 - 48 of 289 Reviews

Jobs at Handshake

Store Operation Manager

Handshake

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Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

Great mission and product—poor leadership, planning and trust across the board.

Not worth it

Deceitful and Arrogant

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